Read “Telescope, Well Bucket, Furnace”  think of three examples from the course that correspond to some of Jane Hirshfield’s ideas about literature

Well Bucket – This is one way for Jane Hirshfield’s idea about “the effort needed for transformation” comes into play through literature. Life often requires hard work and dedication in order for real change to take place; this same concept applies when reading or writing fiction or poetry. Just like using a well bucket it takes time and energy to draw up the water needed for life-giving sustenance. Similarly, when engaging with literature there is a need for sustained effort if true transformation is desired; this could mean spending more time studying certain authors or themes so that their meaning may become fully realized in your mind and heart.

Furnace – Enduringly tied with Hirshfield’s notion that “literature is transformative power,” a furnace presents itself as an appropriate metaphor here due largely because its function revolves around transforming raw materials into something completely different—heat energy (in some cases electricity). In terms of how it relates to her thoughts on literature, this concept implies that consuming works such as novels or poems has an analogous effect on readers: these texts provide fuel which then becomes transformed into increased knowledge about oneself, society at large, history etc… Through these transformations one begins see themselves differently than before; developing newfound understandings about their worldview which they may have not been aware prior consuming said text(s).